


It's Not Too Late

by amethyst-noir (Arbonne)



Series: Prompt Collection [90]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Cloak of Levitation (Marvel), Destruction, Established Relationship, Heavy Angst, Insanity, M/M, Restraints, but there is still hope so that's something
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:07:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22224592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arbonne/pseuds/amethyst-noir
Summary: "You don't get to leave me, I thought you knew that. Forever isn't nearly over yet."(Stephen snaps but this time he's not alone and Tony won't give up in him. Ever.)
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: Prompt Collection [90]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1126062
Comments: 21
Kudos: 98
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	It's Not Too Late

**Author's Note:**

> I told you that I have more insane!Stephen lurking in my inbox. This is ficlet 2 of 3, based on this anon ask:
> 
> _I'm the insane!stephen angst anon! That last ficlet was incredible! Would you be up for writing just a little for a fight scene with Tony trying to subdue Stephen (bonus if he finally manages it by getting FRIDAY to project a handful of butterflies to distract him whilst another avenger restrains him from behind). Again, your writing is so fantastic thank you so much!_
> 
> Thank you so much; you have no idea how much your compliment means to me! 💞 This is the nicer alternative to [Now I Fall](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21890509) \- still bad, but since Tony is still there he will fight with everything he has to keep Stephen at his side. 
> 
> @badthingshappen bingo prompt: _Locked Up and Left Behind_

"Stephen!"

The way Stephen turned around to face him alone made it clear that something was very, very wrong.

"Stephen, sweetheart? What's going on? Are you on a rampage or something? You should have told me if… oh." Words became impossible once he got a clear look on Stephen's face.

_"Keep him occupied, Wong says he knows a way to keep him harmless as soon as he's subdued. We only have to get the door open first, he's done something to it. Thor is on his way to help you the second we can get it,"_ Rhodey told him over the coms and Tony swallowed hard. He had a distinct feeling that he didn't want to occupy Stephen right now. He looked like a man on a mission, unwilling to take things like collateral damage into account. Be that damage human or not.

"I'll do my best," he whispered back, trying to catch and hold Stephen's eyes. He finally did and shuddered all over. They were empty of everything - feeling, recognition, _life_. Those beautiful, ever changing eyes, so full of intelligence and warmth that one look was alone to make Tony feel better on the worst of days. "What happened to you?" Stephen had only been gone for a few days - from Tony's perspective at least. Looking at Stephen, considering how the white in his hair had spread further and how haggard he looked it seemed to have been much longer for him.

Tony hate interdimensional travel, he really did. He hated it even more if, instead of his lover, he got a raging lunatic back. One who was determined to destroy the Sanctum.

He ducked by instinct when some golden/orange bands of fucking magic (he should really learn the technical terms for his enemy number one, he knew) lashed out and he only managed to take cover behind a bookshelf in time. He crouched down on the floor and almost snapped his own neck when something touched him from behind.

It was the Cloak. The Cloak of Levitation - one of the few names he'd bothered to learn because it was _really_ important - was cowering in fear as far away as possible from its master. Fuck, fuck, fuck. This was really bad.

"What happened to him? Why is he busy destroying his own home?" Tony asked in a whisper but the thing only shrugged and managed to convey a deep sense of unhappiness. Tony could emphasize and reached out to pet the fabric in comfort and commiseration.

"Stephen!" he called again. "How about talking it out? You used to be such a big fan of that, what changed? Bad night? Bad hair day?" A loud crash and the distinct sound of a portal forming and something being dropped in was the only answer.

_"Wong is almost through, keep him engaged so that Thor can sneak up on him."_

Sneaking up on Stephen? Thor? "Best plan ever," Tony muttered sarcastically but he didn't have a better one. So, sneaking Thor it was. "FRI? Some kind of distraction so that the wizard doesn't fry me on the spot?"

"Got it, boss." Good girl, but he still had do get Stephen's attention.

He took a deep breath, tapped his reactor to form an armor under his clothes, and prepared himself for potential pain.

"Hey, Stephen!" he called once again. "Keep the magic in, I'm just here to talk."

The Cloak attached itself to him as soon as he stood. Did it do that to protect Tony or because it was afraid of Stephen and wanted to hide behind Tony? He had no idea. "Don't let me trip over you, that'll look bad," he hissed and got some kind of squeeze on his shoulders that probably meant the things understanding in return.

FRIDAY showed him through his sensors that Thor was almost at their location. "Okay, we can do that. FRI? You're on."

He was prepared for pretty much everything but what he got.

The moment Tony stood up FRIDAY projected hundreds if not thousands of tiny butterflies into the shattered remains of the Sanctum's library. Stephen looked at them in awe and delight, as if he was a child, completely disregarding anything else. His magic subsided and vanished as if it had never been here, leaving a broken and scorched battlefield in the middle of the library behind.

Stephen paid it no mind and Tony tried to do the same. "Stephen? Darling? What's wrong?"

No answer.

Stephen was still busy reaching out to one of the holograms when Thor came up behind him and grabbed him around his waist, pinning his arms to keep him from doing any magic for a moment. "Got you, Sorcerer!"

Tony lunged forward at the same time and got hold of his wrists and held on as tightly as he dared.

There was a small, pained sound that pierced right through the scarred remains of Tony's heart and Stephen looked at him full of confusion and fear, his mind clearly elsewhere. He tried to say something but before he could Wong hit him with some kind of spell and he crumbled into Thor's hold like a puppet whose strings were cut, instantly unconscious.

Thor lifted him easily and Tony absently stroked the soft skin under his fingertips.

"What happened?" he demanded.

Wong looked first at him, then at Stephen. "He snapped," he finally said full of sorrow.

It took Tony a moment or two to find the true meaning behind the seemingly harmless words. "No! Nononononono. Not him. You're not going to put him in there. I'm not going to allow it. Find a way to fix him." There had been no signs, hadn't there? Tony had noticed nothing. Before his visit to where and whatever Stephen had been his usual sarcastic, wonderful, adorable, loving self. Whatever had happened, it had happened over there. And they could _fix_ it, damn it!

A long, hard look. "Why am I not surprised that he told you about the Empty Dimension?" Wong finally muttered.

"You're not going to put him into his thing of nothing but dreams. We'll find a way to fix him," Tony would repeat that sentence over and over again until it stuck. "Thor? Buddy? You're silent, care to share?"

Thor looked down at the man in his arms as if he was the most precious being he'd ever had to hold on his life. As far as Tony was concerned that was the case. "Wong has told me what happened," he said and fuck he sounded so sad and scared. "Some of our witches and wizards had the same problem - so many burdens that their minds couldn't comprehend them anymore and they fell into insanity." Tony shivered at the word and held on to Stephen's wrist as if both their lives depended on it.

Not Stephen. Never. He was stronger than that.

"Did you find a way to get them back?" Wong asked quietly.

Thor handed Stephen's lax body over to Tony and he barely managed to not stagger under the sudden weight. Thor helped him arrange Stephen in his arms until Tony was holding him in a bridal-carry, his head cushioned on Tony's shoulder and his arms held up by the Cloak to keep the blood-circulation going.

"I have to speak to my brother," was Thor's answer. "I'll be back as soon as possible."

"We'll keep him comfortable and secure in the meantime," Wong promised.

The words ripped Tony from his contemplation of Stephen's beautiful face and the pain and sorrow he could see there even now. "Where?" he demanded, an ugly suspicion already forming.

Wong looked sad but determined. "Where do you think? Follow me."

"You're not going to toss him into that empty space." That was final, Tony would fight the world to keep Stephen at his side. Where he belonged.

"No," Wong agreed to his surprise. "But I will keep him unconscious and near the gateway until Thor comes back with Loki." His tone made it clear that he wouldn't tolerate any objections and Stephen had long since extracted the promise that Tony would defer to Wong in anything magical related. "We have to be prepared for everything and this way…"

"You can shove him in there over my dead body," Tony vowed but he was still following Wong like a duckling, the Cloak fluttering nervously around them, still stabilizing Stephen's hands while restraining him at the same time. He was a fucking coward.

"I truly hope that won't be necessary," was the really not very reassuring answer to that.

They spent the rest of the short journey through a portal and into the depths of Kamar-Taj in silence. Just a few words when Wong helped him arrange Stephen's body on some sort of bedding.

"Stay with him," Wong instructed. "He shouldn't wake up but if he does restrain him with your tech. He won't be strong enough to break free. Should he become too much to handle…" He swallowed and looked to their left.

Tony barely managed a glance at the shimmering, wavering, _something_ on the other side of the gateway. "No," he said flatly. "Stephen stays here." _With me._

"I hope so. I'll be back as soon as possible."

A moment later Wong was gone and Tony was left alone with an unconscious and insane sorcerer. He should be terrified but instead he was just tired and angry. Despite what happened he couldn't find it in himself to be afraid of the man he loved.

"I know you're still in there and I'm so sorry that I didn't see the signs," he whispered into Stephen's ear as he cuddled up next to him to keep him warm and safe. "We'll find a way to help you, promise. We're not going to lock you up in this empty dimension thing. Loki is a pain in the ass but he knows a lot. You don't get to leave me, I thought you knew that. Forever isn't nearly over yet."

He kissed the soft skin of Stephen's neck before he pressed his face against Stephen's shoulder and let the tears fall.

"If the worst happens, I'll go with you," he promised. "You promised me forever and I'll hold you to that. You don't get to spend it with some fantasy version of me."

Even unconscious, Stephen's fingers loosely curled around Tony's wrist as if to hold on for dear life.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry, Stephen. And Tony. Eventually, I'll make it up to them and to all you lovely readers - but not as long as I have prompts for this bingo card left because just like the name promises it's just one bad thing after another happening.


End file.
